Fountain toothbrush



June 11, 1957 D. e. LOMHOLDT 2,795,900

FOUNTAIN TOOTHBRUSH Filed Sept. 24. 1953 I Ill/Ill],

Dona/0' 6. Lamha/dt INVENTOR.

United States Pater-rt 2,795,000 FOUNTAIN TOOTHBRUSH':

Doiiald G. Lornhol'dt, ModestofCalif.

Application September 24,1953, Serial No. 382,049

2 craima cris issy The present invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in fountain toothbrushes and more particularly to a hollowhandle adapted to hold a replaceable cartridge for supplying adentifrice to the bristles of the brush.

An important object of the invention is to provide a rigid hollow handlehaving a depressible plate in the back thereof for subjecting acollapsible cartridge placed in the handle to a squeezing action toforce liquid from the cartridge into the bristles of the brush.

Another object of the invention is to form the toothbrush with ametering chamber to receive a measured volume of liquid from thecartridge and admit it to the head of the toothbrush by a squeezingaction which also operates a valve mechanism to cut off the flow.

A further object is to provide a novel cartridge construction equippedwith a spring retracted cut-01f valve.

A still further object is to construct the cartridge with a back flowcheck chamber to prevent water used in cleaning the toothbrush frombeing sucked rearwardly into the cartridge by suction when thecollapsible cartridge is released, and wherein the chamber also servesto prevent escape of liquid from the cartridge when the brush is tilteddownwardly.

An additional object is to provide a device of this character of simpleand practical construction, which is efficient and reliable inoperation, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and otherwise welladapted for the purpose for which the same is intended.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of themetering chamber in the brush and the back flow check chamber in thecartridge;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of the brush showing thedistributing passages therein; and

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a preferred cartridgeconstruction.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention,the numeral 5 designates a hollow toothbrush handle having a threadedcap 6 closing its rear end. A metering chamber 7 is formed at the frontportion of the handle defined by a shoulder 8 and rearwardly of whichthe handle is internally threaded, as at 9, to receive the threadedfront end 10 of a collaps Y ible cartridge 11 constructed of plastic orother suitable material wherein the cartridge inherently returns to itsoriginal shape after being collapsed or deformed. The i cartridgeisfilledhwithzawliquid dentifrice/to be dischargedintoithe-chamb'er--7rand then supplied to the bristles 12 back.flowcheck. chamber; 16 therebetween.

Hollow handle 5 isformed at its back: with an-ovalshapedaopening.171-having-a depressible. plate- 18 fitted thereinand-formed withlbeveledges 19 to prevent movemerit of the plateoutwardly through :the opening. -;A

leaf spring 20 is attached at one end internally-of the handle andunderlies an adjacent end of the plate 18 to subject the plate tooutward closing pressure.

In the operation of the device, the plate 18 is depressed to subject thecollapsible cartridge 11 to a squeezing or collapsing action and whichforces liquid therefrom outwardly through the passages 14 and 15'intochamber 7 and from which the liquid flows through the passages 13 to thebristles of the brush. Upon release of pressure on plate 18, the spring20 swings the plate outwardly into the opening 17 and the inherentresiliency of the cartridge restores the latter to its original shape.Any water from the head of the brush which might enter the front passage14 by suction created by the expansion of the cartridge will becollected in chamber 16 and not pass into the cartridge.

In Figure 6, l have illustrated a preferred cartridge constructionwherein the cartridge 21 is formed at its front end with a passage 22 inwhich a wire or other suitable spring 23 is slidable and with a roundheaded valve 24 at the front end of the wire to close the passage. Thewire spring extends longitudinally of the interior of the cartridge andis bowed with its rear end abutting the rear end of the cartridge to aidin the expanding action thereof. The wire passes through an eye 25inside the cartridge and directly under the pressure plate 26 of hollowhandle 27.

The metering chamber 28 at the front portion of the handle is formedwith valve seat 29 which is engaged by valve 24 when the latter is movedforwardly into open position to thus close the passages 30 leading tothe bristles 31 of the brush.

Accordingly, when plate 26 is depressed to collapse the cartridge, thevalve 24 is moved forward to open passage 22 and admit liquid into themetering chamber 28 around the valve and from the chamber to flowthrough the passages to the bristles until valve 24 engages valve seat29, thus cutting off further flow to the bristles. When plate 26 isreleased, the wire spring 23 will close passage 22.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will bereadily understood and further explana tion is believed to beunnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction shown and described, andaccordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resortedto, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In a fountain toothbrush having a hollow handle, a metering chamberat the front end of the handle and having a passage leading therefrom tothe bristles of the brush, a valve seat at the junction of the passagewith the chamber, a collapsible cartridge in the handle and having adischarge end connected to the metering chamber, and a slidable valveinternally of the cartridge and closing the discharge end of thecartridge and admitting liquid from the cartridge into the meteringchamber upon Patented June 11, 1957 an initial opening movement of thevalve and to engage the valve seat to cut ofi? flow from the meteringchamber to the bristles upon a continued opening movement of the valve.J I t 2. A fountain toothbrush comprising in combination, a rigid hollowhandle,-a replaceable collapsible cartridge in the handle having anoutlet port forming a valve seat, a chamber in the handle at theoutletport, said chamber having a passage leading to the bristles of thetoothbrush and said passage having a valve seat, a double acting valveslidably mounted in the chamber for alternately engaging the first andsecond valve seats, means carried by the handle and engaging thecartridge to compress the latter for extruding contents thereof, andmeans connecting the valve to a compressible part of the cartridge toactuate the valve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS CooperMay 12, Venard Sept. 21, Gunn Oct. 5, Ijams Sept. 19, Parker May 13,Lawson Aug. 19, Banks Oct. 7,

FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Aug. 16,

